Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Rolo headquarters in Westminster.

A high-level meeting was repeatedly delayed amid heated debate.

"Robert, I think it's acceptable. Although our automotive business has not made a loss yet, it doesn't make much money. It's at most 2 to million pounds a year, and it's not stable yet. We can receive million pounds in one go. This premium is already very sincere." said Oliver, the young and energetic vice president.

"No, I personally strongly oppose it. This is a betrayal of our Rolls-Royce tradition. We have never accepted investment from foreign investors, let alone from the University of Tokyo." The white-haired director Sir Martin stiffened his neck and directly objected.

"We are the last pride of the British Empire. If people knew that we had to sell assets to survive, it would undoubtedly be a shame for the British Empire."

"Sir Martin, speaking of shame, if we don't sell part of the equity of the automotive business for financing, based on the current business situation, the aviation department will probably go bankrupt within a year. If this worst-case scenario occurs, will you be responsible, Sir Martin?" Vice President Oliver directly counterattacked.

"We are discussing a matter of life and death, not some glory that never sets. Can those false names bring us 100 million pounds to save our lives? Or can you, Sir Martin, have such great powers that you can bring us this 100 million pounds?" Oliver's words hit the nail on the head.

Sir Martin, who was strongly opposed, felt unwilling but helpless.

"No matter what, we should not think about selling these things inherited from our ancestors. Every business of our Rolls-Royce is a light that the sun never sets. If we sell them, then the soul of our Rolls-Royce will be gone. If we really do this, we will be the real sinners in the history of Rolls-Royce's development."

Sir Martin said loudly, putting a huge hat on him, as if Rolls-Royce was facing a catastrophe.

"Everyone, everyone, please be quiet!" Seeing that the smell of gunpowder in the meeting was getting thicker and thicker, Robert had to call a halt.

Whether those who advocate selling or not selling, no one has put forward any constructive suggestions on how Rolls-Royce should develop after losing its aviation engine business.

Everyone is now focusing on various ways to overcome the current difficulties.

The mainstream idea is to reduce staff and increase efficiency, and large-scale layoffs are about to begin!
However, as the Rolls-Royce Group has evolved to the point where almost all of its remaining employees are either on the front lines of production or sales. Although laying off this group of people can reduce manpower expenses for a while, the lack of talent to productize the current technologies has led to weaker and weaker hematopoietic capabilities. Ultimately, the company will continue to weaken and go to extinction.

"Mr. Alexander, you are the CFO, what do you think?" Robert began to call the shots.

"Mr. Robert, from a financial perspective, with these 2 million pounds, our aviation research and development will not have any major problems even if we don't open for three years. Our cash flow will become very abundant. The development funding for our new generation of engines is about 2 million pounds, but this time our research will be shared with the University of Tokyo, so in fact our investment is mostly around 1 million. We can completely cover this part of the cost increase, and the redundant 1 million can at least allow the aviation business production line to survive the non-profit period of more than three years. We may be able to hold on until the proceeds from passenger aircraft sales are recovered and the aviation business gets back on track." said the company's CFO, Mr. Alexander.

"From a purely financial perspective, this is a good deal. The actual assets of our automotive business are far from 4 million pounds, and there is even a gap of 3 million in the accounts. After selling part of the automotive business, our assets have actually increased significantly." Alexander was impartial and explained the financial matters clearly. Although he had his own inclinations, he did not give his own direct conclusion on the matter.

Anyway, everyone else here is bigger than him, but as a CFO, he certainly hopes to have more money on hand, otherwise it will be difficult to live when the company is in debt and is chased by people everywhere.

Especially when it comes to unpaid wages, those workers really dare to take to the streets to demand them!

"Mr. Elk, what do you think?" Robert nodded and said to CEO Tu Elk.

"Mr. Robert, without the engine contracts from the three major airlines, our aviation business will undoubtedly suffer a heavy blow in terms of revenue. Before there is revenue from new products, the difficulties of the aviation business are unprecedented," said Elk.

"Without any income from other sectors to fill the gap, we will have a budget gap of 5 million pounds a year. We have sought help from Downing Street for this money, applying for financial subsidies or interest-free long-term loans, but Downing Street rejected our request, claiming that as a company, Rolls-Royce needs to rely on itself to solve the financial gap problem instead of using the government's financial budget, unless we want nationalization."

Elke told the recent events truthfully. Some of the board members present knew about it, while some were still unclear. But after hearing this, all of them turned pale.

If it is nationalized, the annual income of every director here will be significantly affected. After all, if it is run as a state-owned enterprise, there are regulations on the upper limit of salary, and the maximum income cannot exceed 30 times the average salary. However, in private enterprises, there is basically no upper limit on salary. You can raise it times or times as long as it is approved by the company's shareholders committee.

Therefore, once nationalized, these executives of Rolls-Royce will face a round of major salary cuts.

In this way, even Sir Martin, who was the most opposed, was silenced.

Even if he is not short of money, he cannot block the thirteen board members present from making money, otherwise his days on the board will be over soon.

"Our automotive business is generally running well, but the profit is relatively limited. Under the current development strategy, we have no way to quickly expand the automotive business to make up for the loss of revenue from our aviation business. After all, the Rolls-Royce brand focuses on the ultra-high-end market, and the number of customers in this market each year is quite limited. Our customers do not want this brand of car to become a mass-market model."

"As a symbol of status, once our automobile business develops towards the mass market, the current widely recognized and distinguished user value of Rolls-Royce will be lost. I think we cannot take such a risk." After Elk briefly explained the predicament of Rolls-Royce, everyone remained silent.

"Does anyone else want to add anything?" Chairman Robert glanced at everyone in the room and continued to ask in a deep voice.

"If not, let's vote on this matter." Robert continued, "Please raise your hands if you agree to cooperate with Dongda Automobile and accept Dongda Automobile's investment."

After saying that, Robert raised his hand first.

Soon, the other eight directors in the room raised their hands. The remaining four looked at their colleagues around them, and after thinking for a while, three more raised their hands to express their agreement, "I abstain." Sir Martin looked at the general trend and could only say helplessly that there was no point in opposing now.

But Sir Martin had his last bit of stubbornness.

"Okay, now there are 12 votes in favor and 1 abstention. The board of directors agrees to cooperate with Dongda Auto." Robert said with the final word.

"Mr. Elke, you will be in charge of the next round of negotiations. We need to find a way to get enough funds to tide over the difficulties with the least equity transfer. Mr. Elke, this heavy responsibility is now handed over to you."

Robert said that as the CEO, this was Elk's responsibility, so no one objected.

"Rolls-Royce agreed to our intention to invest, but in negotiating the equity transfer, they hope to have absolute control of 66.7% and give us 33.3% of the shares, while the financing price of 2 million pounds remains unchanged." Staff Officer Ye brought Qi Tongsheng, the president of Passat Automobile Industry Company, which represented Dongda Automobile in the investment, to ask Ren Zhong about the bottom line of the cooperation.

"Our bottom line is not to seek a controlling stake in Rolls-Royce, and we can even give up our voting rights," Ren Zhong said. He knew that although the British Empire had fallen into decline, the John Bull family was still very attached to it, especially the older generation of managers. "But in terms of valuation, we have to stick to the 4 million pounds valuation. In fact, based on Rolls-Royce's current revenue and profits, the valuation we give exceeds the stock price valuation of Rogue Eagle's listed automobile company. We have the confidence in this regard, so we will not waver in this regard."

"On the other hand, we are seeking opportunities for in-depth cooperation with Rolls-Royce in the future, but we do not want to raise this issue now to increase the variables of the current cooperation. However, we need to show our sincerity in this cooperation and treat others with sincerity so that Rolls-Royce can believe that we are not here to disrupt the situation, but to increase their strength and solve the current financial difficulties of Rolls-Royce."

"Rolls-Royce is a very special company in the world. Our deep cooperation with them is a very meaningful thing. In this regard, it is not only evaluated by economic benefits, but also a way to open up cooperation with strong domestic enterprises in the great powers. In the future, it will create a model of win-win cooperation for the cooperation of the European powers. In the future, it is very necessary for us to carry out in-depth cooperation with technologically strong countries such as Gaul, Sandezi, and the watch country in Europe, and further integrate our current competitive industries into the world, forming an industrial layout of you in me and me in you."

"Especially in the automotive industry, future cooperation with Sandezi is imperative. In addition, we also have strong opportunities for complementarity and win-win results in the fields of engines, machine tools, precision instruments and materials, optics, and chemicals."

"In terms of overall considerations for cooperation, we must focus on the overall situation. After we have established a good reputation among the major powers, we can use market-driven methods to stimulate their rush to cooperate with us in the future. We are adhering to the idea of ​​peaceful development and common development to cooperate with other countries. So in this matter, what we need to do is to be flexible and insist on what we should insist on, so that they can understand our bottom line. We cannot cooperate well by simply catering to them."

"On the contrary, we let them see our commercial considerations, our insistence on valuation, and our waiver of equity voting rights. This clearly shows that we are sincere in commercial cooperation and are not seeking control of Rolls-Royce. They don't even need to make any changes to the company's business because this is not our goal."

Ren Zhong laid out all his thoughts on this matter. After listening to him, Staff Officer Ye and Qi Tongsheng fell into deep thought.

After all, in this regard, none of them thinks as deeply as Ren Zhong.

In terms of long-term development vision, Staff Officer Ye and Qi Tongsheng dare not compare with Ren Zhong. For them, the most important thing is to accurately understand Ren Zhong's ideas so as to avoid deviations in execution. If they cannot deeply and accurately understand Ren Zhong's ideas, even though their work may seem similar, many people will be involved in the actual operation process, and a little deviation may lead to a big deviation in execution.

This is why Staff Officer Ye wanted to bring Qi Tongsheng here to consult Ren Zhong in person. It is too easy for misunderstandings to occur through the understanding and retelling of the middleman. Only by fully communicating and understanding with the parties involved in person, as well as timely questioning and dialectics, can major misunderstandings be avoided.

"President Ren, what you mean is that our approach is not limited to a certain amount of equity. If they are only willing to transfer 33.3%, we can accept that. But in terms of consideration, we only need to give 4 million based on the value of 1.332 million, and everything else remains the same, right? If they are willing to transfer 49%, we can give 1.96 million, which is also acceptable." Qi Tongsheng raised the question after pondering silently for a while.

"Yes, we have no intention of holding a controlling stake. Our goal is to acquire shares and establish a good relationship with the Rolls-Royce Group. When the time is right in the future, we will take advantage of the cooperation between Rolls-Royce and our Dongda to develop a luxury car of our own. The Passat brand is currently positioned at the level of a business car. If we want to develop it in the direction of luxury cars, it will be very difficult. So in this regard, my idea is to create a new sub-brand, such as the Cullinan brand, and it would be better if we could also bring Rolls-Royce together. This way, it will be easier to create a new luxury brand."

"Our luxury brand does not compete with ultra-high-end products like Rolls-Royce, but with mass-market elite luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lincoln," Ren Zhong added.

There was no concept of Cullinan in the time of Bright Sword. Ren Zhong mentioned it casually, and Qi Tongsheng and Staff Officer Ye just listened to it casually. They never thought that they would really build a luxury car with this name in the future.

However, the two finally understood Ren Zhong's core idea. Now they are working together with Rolls-Royce to create Dongda luxury cars in the future. Now Dongda Automobile has just started, and it is too difficult to handle this matter by themselves. The most difficult thing in creating a luxury brand is the recognition of potential customers, which cannot be accomplished overnight by spending money.

With a Rolls-Royce that is also a top luxury car brand in the world, there is a lot to brag about and tell stories about its background.

So in the cooperation with Rolls-Royce, they seem to be making a lot of money now, but in the long run, Dongda will definitely not lose. (End of this chapter)